Helicopter Installs Bridges on Upper Buck Gully Trails

A helicopter placed four new bridges in Upper Buck Gully this week to give people access to two renovated trails, a city official said today.

It took just 30 minutes on Wednesday for the bridges to be lifted out of Canyon Watch Park on San Joaquin Hills by a helicopter, taken over the canyon and installed along a new trail. The bridges -- which were made in Florida and transported to Newport Beach by a semi-truck -- are up to 50 feet in length and weigh more than 3,000 pounds.

"The bridges will provide access to two renovated trails in Upper Buck Gully," Tara Finnigan, city spokeswoman, said. "The improvements are part of the City’s Resource and Recreation Management Plan for the Buck Gully Reserve, which focuses on preserving and protecting the unique natural resources found in the 300-acre area while providing opportunities for recreation." 

Irvine Ranch Conservancy is managing the improvements at the Buck Gully Reserve. The modifications include creating a more sustainable trail loop, creating crossings with the four bridges and three culverts, repairing erosion damage and clearing trails. Finnigan said the Conservancy interviewed trail users in 2008 to find out what improvements they felt the area needed.

The Upper Buck Gully Trails are scheduled to reopen to the public on Wednesday, May 30. In the meantime, Conservancy crews will work on bolting the bridges in place, build ramps to the bridges, construct benches along the trails, install new access gates and create informational kiosks at each trailhead.

During the brief bridge installation project, Conservancy staff and Newport Beach Police officers were stationed near Canyon Watch Park to keep pedestrians and motorists out of the helicopter’s flight path.